#hawaii volcano

Dive beneath the solidified crust on the floor of the crater to explore the complicated mix of molten material below. 

Episode 21 of the ongoing Kīlauea eruption at Halemaʻumaʻu ended shortly after 8:30 on Sunday night, after about eight hours of sustained fountaining which began at 12:45 p.m. on May 11, 2025. The Halema’uma’u eruption is currently paused.

The main fountaining of Episode 19 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at Kīlauea has ended after just 8 hours of activity.  

The fountaining phase of the latest episode began at 3:20 a.m. this morning and lasted for 10 hours and 8 minutes.  

A rare and large summertime phytoplankton bloom in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre in summer 2018 was prompted by ash from Kīlauea falling on the ocean surface approximately 1,200 miles west of the volcano.

Episode 18 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 10:01 p.m. HST on April 16, 2025 when lava started overflowing from the north vent.

Episode 13 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 2:36 a.m. on March 10, 2025.  Fountains reached heights of 400-500 feet (120-150 m) by 3:30 a.m. The episode lasted for 12 hours and 37 minutes, ending at 3:13 p.m. on March 11, 2025.

Episode 12 of the Halemaʻumaʻu eruption of Kīlauea within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park ended at 10:37 a.m. HST on March 5 after just under 22 hours of continuous eruptive activity. Fountaining from the south vent ceased at 10:35 a.m. at the same time summit deflation changed to inflation and tremor decreased. Current hazards include volcanic gas emissions and windblown volcanic glass (Pele’s Hair) that may impact Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park and nearby communities.

Currently, air quality levels are elevated at several Hawaiʻi island and Maui island air monitoring stations. As southerly winds are expected to persist throughout the weekend, particulates in the air and levels of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) may increase and fluctuate in various areas of the state, causing poor air quality.

Episode 9 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at Kīlauea began at 10:16 Tuesday morning (Feb. 11, 2025) with lava fountains producing a lava flow on Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor.

From Feb. 9-14, the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory will welcome approximately 150 international volcanologists to Hilo to explore the impacts and insights of the 2018 Kīlauea eruption.

Episode 7 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption ended abruptly at 10:47 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025.

The eruption of Kīlauea within the Kaluapele summit caldera resumed just before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. This marks the beginning of the fifth episode of the current eruption that began on Dec. 23, 2024, following the most recent pause that began on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025.

Kamaʻehuakanaloa volcano (formerly known as the Lōʻihi Seamount), offshore to the southeast of the Island of Hawaiʻi, entered a period of heightened seismic unrest around 2 a.m. HST on Monday, Jan. 21. Seismicity ceased by 8 a.m. HST and a continuation of earthquake swarm activity at this time seems unlikely, according to an update from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

The summit eruption at Kīlauea volcano that began on Dec. 23 entered its fourth eruptive episode on Jan. 15 and continues this morning. Activity is concentrated at two lava fountains in southwest Kaluapele that have each built up a cone and have associated lava flows.

The eruption that began within Halemaʻumaʻu at the summit of Kīlauea volcano on Dec. 23, 2024, remains paused. Monitoring data show that Kīlauea summit is slowly inflating, indicating that new magma is accumulating below the surface of the summit region. It is not possible to forecast an exact outcome of this activity but we are in a window where it is likely another fountaining episode may occur, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

The eruption at Kīlauea volcano that began on Monday, Dec. 23 remains paused as of 8:40 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 3, according to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Glow from the crater floor remains but is much diminished from the previous night. Glow could persist for days.

The eruption at Kīlauea volcano that began on Monday, Dec. 23, continues this morning.  Over the past day, vents in the southwest portion of the caldera have continued producing a fan of lava flows covering the southwest portion of the crater floor, with the vigor of lava fountaining increasing over the past day.

Kīlauea volcano continues to erupt in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park from the new fissure vent that opened just west of Nāpau Crater on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at around 3:15 p.m., according to a daily update from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. This is the fourth vent system of this eruption. The first fissures of this eruption occurred on the night of Sept. 15 on the middle East Rift Zone.

Kīlauea volcano erupted briefly on Sunday night, Sept. 15, 2024, on the middle East Rift Zone in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, according to a new update issued at 11:33 a.m. by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.